Linda Muchnick, 57, must forfeit the surviving 16 cats and one dog to the Montgomery County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, county Judge Steven T. O'Neill ruled Wednesday. The order essentially allows the SPCA, which has held the animals while the legal battle loomed, to put the animals up for adoption.
The judge made the ruling after hearing Muchnick's impassioned plea for the return of the animals and a prosecutor's argument against that return.
Muchnick vowed to appeal O'Neill's ruling to the state Superior Court. Under the law, she has 30 days to do so.
"In my heart and my soul I feel I have lived an exemplary life for the animal kingdom. I've done the hard road to show my character for 16 months. I love my babies. I'm going to appeal this and do my best because that's what I believe is the right thing to do," Muchnick said during an interview after the civil hearing. "I love them, absolutely."
Muchnick argued her "pet family" belongs to her. Muchnick claimed there is nobody else who has a greater love for the animals and that she would never harm the animals again.
Assistant District Attorney Abby Silverman argued that the animals seized from Muchnick constituted "derivative contraband," the objects of an illegal act under the law, and that they could be forfeited and should not be returned to Muchnick.
"They should be forfeited because of the ordeal they suffered at her hands. What's to say that situation isn't going to occur again," Silverman argued.
"Additionally, she's currently living in a small one bedroom apartment in Pottstown and putting 16 cats, one dog and a person in a small bedroom in Pottstown is probably a situation that may drive her again to desperate acts such as poisoning them," Silverman alleged.
The SPCA was in a holding pattern when it came to the surviving animals and couldn't put them up for adoption either until a judge ruled Muchnick can't have the animals or until Muchnick voluntarily relinquished custody of the animals. Since August 2009, the SPCA's cost to house the animals reached $32,383, according to testimony.
On May 24, O'Neill determined Muchnick was not guilty by reason of insanity of multiple counts of animal cruelty and attempted cruelty to animals in connection with an August 2009 incident at her former Towamencin home.
Specifically, O'Neill determined that at the time of the Aug. 20 incident, after which 12 of the 29 cats found in Muchnick's former home on East Bishopwood Boulevard died from complications of ingesting rat poison, was suffering from a mental disease or defect that prevented her from knowing what was right or wrong or understanding the consequences of her conduct.
While Muchnick faces no further action under criminal laws, under a so-called civil commitment, the judge ordered Muchnick to continue with outpatient mental health treatment.
Muchnick subsequently filed court papers to regain custody of the animals. According to previous testimony, a psychiatrist who once offered the opinion that Muchnick was legally insane at the time of the poisoning incident also stated in a March report that Muchnick would not pose harm to the pets if they were returned to her.
The judge previously indicated that a prior federal court ruling in a case nearly identical to Muchnick's plight, did uphold the idea that animals are considered "chattel," or tangible property that can be subject to forfeiture.
While Muchnick previously said she was grateful for the shelter and food provided to the animals by the SPCA, she feared for their futures if she was not awarded custody.
Muchnick, who did not have any contact with the animals since they were seized, feared that the animals would be adopted by someone who was not prepared to deal with problems associated with the animals' backgrounds. The animals include a pit pull dog named "Lukey" and 16 feral cats.
According to the original arrest complaint, Muchnick notified the Harleysville Veterninary Clinic that she intended to kill herself and her collection of pets because "her building financial issues made her realize suicide was the only solution." Police alleged Muchnick wrote a note indicating she "thought it would be best for her pets if she killed them along with herself so they could be in heaven together."
When police went to the home, they found Muchnick, conscious but incoherent, lying on the floor of a locked and poorly ventilated bedroom, along with a sickly pit bull dog, and 29 cats inside two locked bedrooms, according to court documents.
During the investigation, authorities found animal food bowls that contained D-Con Rat Poison, according to the criminal complaint. Police also found an open container of the rat poison in a dresser of the bedroom where Muchnick was discovered.
(Delco Times - Dec 22, 2010)
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